# Punny character names
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 4, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982 "2017-10-04T20:30:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/1 "2017-10-04T20:30:50Z")
Writers like to use wordplay when naming characters. A couple of obvious examples that come to mind are the Librarian, Mr. Atoz, in the _Star Trek_ episode ‘All Our Yesterdays’, and the titular character in ‘Zardoz’ (you’ll know if you’ve seen it).
Excluding such things as the _Harry Potter_ series, where it seems _every_ character has a punny/cute/significant name, and the _James Bond_ series, where the puns are blatant, what other characters have wordplay names?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/2 "2017-10-04T20:38:32Z")
Emma Peel from the _Avengers_. They wanted a character with “male appeal” and wrote it as M Appeal.
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### Author:  [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/3 "2017-10-04T20:43:54Z")
I’m glad to get here early and lay claim to the obvious characters from Dr. Strangelove.
There’s the good doctor himself but also the villain, Col. Jack D. Ripper, not to mention the officer, Batguano. I’m sure there were more in that movie.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/4 "2017-10-04T20:44:21Z")
Dickens characters have descriptive names.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/5 "2017-10-04T20:48:14Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> Dickens characters have descriptive names.
True. Like the _Harry Potter_ series, the names were meant to be meaningful. I’m looking for names that are ‘cute jokes’ (like Mr. Atoz), but not so ‘cute’ as the _James Bond_ names.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/6 "2017-10-04T21:01:48Z")
The Star Wars universe full of these. A few which come to mind:
The bounty hunter droid [4-LOM](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/4-LOM) (from _The Empire Strikes Back_) is an acronym pun; the name allegedly stands for “For Love of Money.”
The planet [Wobani](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wobani) briefly appears near the beginning of Rogue One; it’s the Imperial prison planet from which a Rebel team frees Jyn Erso. “Wobani” is an anagram of “Obi-Wan.”
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/7 "2017-10-04T21:19:28Z")
The pun is really obscure, but in _One Piece_ there’s a character named Mr. Three. If you translate his name into Japanese it would be San-San.
Most people know that Lupin the Third was named after the fictional thief Arsine Lupin, but what most people don’t know is that Zenigata was also named after a popular Japanese detective.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/8 "2017-10-04T21:26:57Z")
Cartoons are full of such. [Pepé Le Pew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep%C3%A9_Le_Pew) immediately comes to mind. I’ll leave the rest for the teeming masses…
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/9 "2017-10-04T21:35:26Z")
Well, you could go old school with [_The Pilgrim’s Progress_](http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pilgrims/characters.html), but those names might be too direct to be considered puns. Same with Hiro Protagonist in _Snow Crash_.
Since manga/anime is being mentioned, there is Sailor Venus, also called Sailor V, which in Engrish is [pronounced exactly like c’est la vie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV_jqVPxx1k).
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/10 "2017-10-04T21:40:39Z")
I think Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson’s **Snow Crash** deserves a mention.
Chester Gould in **Dick Tracy** was particularly heavyhanded in this regard, especially back in the 30s and 40s. It’s not just the criminal names like “BB Eyes” and “Flattop” that echoed their physical characteristics. He also gave characters names that were just words reversed, like “Mr. Toirtap”
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/11 "2017-10-04T21:44:05Z")
One of my favorite character names is in _Arrested Development_ - the Bluth family attorney, Bob Loblaw.
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### Author:  [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/12 "2017-10-04T21:45:39Z")
Most of iZombie’s proper nouns are made up of puns, but the central, zombie character being named Liv Moore is almost unforgivable 😛
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### Author:  [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/13 "2017-10-04T21:53:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> True. Like the _Harry Potter_ series, the names were meant to be meaningful. I’m looking for names that are ‘cute jokes’ (like Mr. Atoz), but not so ‘cute’ as the _James Bond_ names.
Arrgh, I just got that! :smack:
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/14 "2017-10-04T22:15:47Z")
Rocky Horror has Dr. Frank N. Furter
And of course, Young Frankenstein has the brain that belonged to someone named Abby Normal
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/15 "2017-10-04T22:33:38Z")
> [@Marlonius](#):
>
> I’m glad to get here early and lay claim to the obvious characters from Dr. Strangelove.
>
> There’s the good doctor himself but also the villain, Col. Jack D. Ripper, not to mention the officer, Batguano. I’m sure there were more in that movie.
To nitpick, it’s Col. “Bat” Guano. There’s also President Merkin Muffley, Gen. Buck Turgidson, and Maj. “King” Kong (played by Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known as Slim Pickens).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/16 "2017-10-04T22:46:28Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> One of my favorite character names is in _Arrested Development_ - the Bluth family attorney, Bob Loblaw.
Also Maeby Funke, her first name being a pun on the uncertainty of her parentage.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/17 "2017-10-04T22:55:33Z")
The video game “Baldur’s Gate II” has a character called Minister Lloyd Wainwright. Lloydminster and Wainwright are two communities in Alberta.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/18 "2017-10-04T22:56:17Z")
Speaking of Arrested Development, can we conciser “The Seaward” a character, please?
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/19 "2017-10-04T22:58:24Z")
\*American Gods \* by Neil Gaiman has, for instance, Low-Key Lyesmith (who turns out to be the Norse god Loki) and Mr. Nancy (who is revealed to be the African trickster god Anansi).
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punny-character-names/797982/20 "2017-10-05T00:27:39Z")
Thomas Pynchon used them a lot: Mucho Maas, Genghis Cohen, “Bloody” Chicklitz
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